Waymo Taxi: How Driverless Taxis Work in the US

In several cities in the US, you can already call a taxi without a driver. This has become possible thanks to Waymo, a subsidiary project of Google, which is developing the technology for fully autonomous vehicles.

Published 2 min read

Waymo is an American company developing autonomous driving technologies. It originated as an Alphabet project in 2009 and became an independent company in 2016. Waymo's primary goal is to create safe, reliable, and accessible transportation without the need for a human driver.

Currently, Waymo's autonomous vehicles are available in Phoenix and San Francisco, and have recently begun operating in Los Angeles and Austin. In Phoenix, the service has been running in fully autonomous mode since 2020, without a safety driver. In San Francisco, despite the more complex urban environment, the company has made significant progress—thousands of users are already riding in driverless cars around the city.

How to order a driverless taxi

The process is no different from ordering an Uber or Yandex Go:

— the user downloads the Waymo One app
— enters the pickup and drop-off locations
— selects a suitable vehicle; all of them are Jaguar I-PACE electric cars
— the driverless car arrives within a few minutes
— the car unlocks via the app, and the ride begins.

How the safety system works

Waymo's autonomous vehicles are equipped with:
— LiDAR—laser sensors that create a 3D map of the surrounding environment
— 360-degree cameras
— radars capable of "seeing" in low-visibility conditions
— artificial intelligence that processes data at millisecond speeds.

Each vehicle has undergone millions of kilometers of testing—both in real-world conditions and in virtual environments. Moreover, Waymo operators can remotely intervene in vehicle control if necessary.

Riding in a Waymo

The interior of the cars is clean, spacious, and lacks a steering wheel. Inside, there is a screen displaying the route, as well as SOS buttons and the ability to end the ride.

The vehicles drive smoothly and strictly adhere to traffic laws. However, many people find it unusual to get into a car without a driver at first.

Driverless taxis have already become part of the U.S. transportation system and are expanding to more cities each year. It is expected that in the coming years, Waymo and its competitors will begin actively entering international markets.